LEARNING TO LEARN FROM POSITIVE EXPERIENCES 1 Learning to Learn from Positive Experiences Rick Hanson, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, USA Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D. Santa Clara University, CA, USA Emma Hutton-Thamm, M.A. Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, San Rafael, CA, USA Michael R. Hagerty, Ph.D. University of California, Davis, USA Corresponding Author Rick Hanson: [email protected] Acknowledgments This study was supported with a grant from the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. LEARNING TO LEARN FROM POSITIVE EXPERIENCES 2 Abstract People draw on psychological resources such as grit and compassion to cope with adversity, pursue aims, and maintain well-being. Previous research has identified environmental, physiological, behavioral, and mental factors that can aid the acquisition – the learning – of these resources. Mental factors that directly engage experiences of psychological resources (e.g., focusing on their personal relevance) have particular advantages, such as being applicable to a variety of settings and experiences, and subject to volitional control. Such mental factors have the potential to increase the development of psychological resources, yet to date there has been no formal training in their systematic use. Consequently, the Taking in the Good Course was ​ ​ developed and investigated in a randomized waitlist-controlled study. Results both post-course and at 2-month follow-up indicated that training in the systematic use of mental factors of learning has the possibility of increasing gains from positive experiences, with implications for both formal interventions and everyday life. Keywords: learning, memory, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, positive psychology ​ Declarations Funding: This study was supported with a grant from the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience ​ and Contemplative Wisdom. Conflicts of interest/Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of ​ interest. Availability of data and material (data transparency): Not applicable ​ Code availability (software application or custom code): Not applicable ​ Learning to Learn From Positive Experiences LEARNING TO LEARN FROM POSITIVE EXPERIENCES 3 1 Relatively stable psychological resources ​ help us to cope and thrive. For example, traits ​ ​ of self-esteem, perceived personal control, and optimism foster subjective well-being (Myers and Diener 1995). Trait mindfulness (Shapiro, Brown, Thoresen, and Plante 2011) promotes physiological recovery from stress (Fogarty et al. 2013) and greater well-being (Brown and Ryan 2003). Trait gratitude is associated with decreased depression (Lambert, Fincham, and Stillman 2011), increased positive emotions and post-traumatic growth among cancer patients (Ruini and Vescovelli 2013), and better sleep (Wood, Joseph, Lloyd, and Atkins 2009). Other psychological resources include resilience (Fletcher and Sarkar 2013), secure attachment (Ravitz, Maunder, Hunter, Sthankiya, and Lancee 2010), executive functions (Alvarez and Emory 2006), positive emotions (Fredrickson 2013), optimism (Goodin and Bulls 2013), self-efficacy (Bandura 2006; Usher and Pajares 2008), compassion (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, and Finkel 2008), and self-compassion (Neff and Vonk 2009). These inner resources have been described in various ways, such as character strengths (Park, Peterson, and Seligman 2004), virtues (Dahlsgaard, Peterson, and Seligman 2005), psychological capital (Luthans and Youssef-Morgan 2017), and positive psychological traits (Martin, Harmell, and Mausbach 2015). A psychological resource can have multiple elements (Hobfoll 2002), such as thoughts ​ (e.g., knowledge, perspectives), perceptions (e.g., body sensations), emotions (e.g., feelings, ​ ​ ​ ​ moods), motivations (e.g., values, intentions), or skills (e.g., impulse control). For example, in a ​ ​ ​ ​ toddler who is upset, the resource of secure attachment could include the thought that the child’s 1 Resources are defined here functionally, by their beneficial effects on the individual who possesses them and perhaps on others as well. A capability or tendency that is beneficial (i.e., a resource) in one context may not be beneficial in another one (Kashdan & Biswas-Diener 2014). LEARNING TO LEARN FROM POSITIVE EXPERIENCES 4 mother will come when she is called, the perception of relaxation when she is present, the emotion of love, the motivation to be comforted by her, and the skill of getting her attention. From States to Traits Psychological resources function as both passing states (Luthans, Avolio, Avey, and ​ ​ Norman 2007) and lasting traits (Niemiec and Lissing 2016; Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson ​ ​ 2005). For instance, a person could experience state gratitude for a few seconds while also 2 having trait gratitude as an underlying personality characteristic. ​ Traits are more stable and ​ reliable than states (e.g., Fleeson 2001; Matthews, Deary, and Whiteman 2003). If a resource state is caused by external events or settings rather than by an underlying resource trait, it is dependent upon its preceding causes and vulnerable to disruption if those causes diminish or end. Previous studies have identified significant benefits in identifying and using psychological resources such as character strengths (e.g., Peterson and Seligman 2004), which raises the question of how we might go about acquiring them. In adulthood, about 70% of the variation in development comes from nonheritable factors (McGue, Bacon, and Lykken 1993; Roberts, Walton, and Viechtbauer 2006), suggesting that a large portion of a person’s trait resources are acquired rather than innate (Loehlin, McCrae, Costa, and John 1998; Merrell 2010; Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck 2007; Tellegen et al. 1988). This acquisition is a process of learning in which (1) patterns of mental/neural activity ​ ​ (e.g., experiences and their neural correlates) are (2) consolidated and reconsolidated into lasting changes of neural structure and function (Brown and Craik 2005; Josselyn, Köhler, and ​ ​ 2 We are using the term, resource trait, in a broad sense to refer to any relatively durable and beneficial thought, perception, emotion, motivation, or skill, or combination of these. LEARNING TO LEARN FROM POSITIVE EXPERIENCES 5 Frankland 2015; McGaugh 2000; Nadel, Hupbach, Gomez, and Newman-Smith 2012; Penfield ​ ​ 3 1968). ​ For simplicity, we term the first stage of learning activation and the second stage ​ ​ ​ installation. Drawing on these mechanisms of learning, psychological resources are developed ​ by having experiences of them or related factors—activated states—that are installed as beneficial traits. But while an activated state is a necessary condition for learning, it is not a sufficient one. ​ ​ Experiencing does not equal learning. There must also be installation. Otherwise, no matter how useful or enjoyable an experience may be at the time, there is no further development of psychological resources. For instance, people may understand the ideas and advice offered by psychotherapists or other healthcare providers during meetings with them, but memory for this information is generally poor (Harvey et al. 2014). Experiential state to experiential state processes—or related processes of experiential state to behavior to experiential state—may spiral upward for a time (Garland et al. 2010; Garland, Farb, Goldin, and Fredrickson 2015; Ramsey and Gentzler 2015), but they are not themselves evidence of growth in trait inner resources such ​ ​ as resilience or self-worth. The conversion rate from beneficial states to beneficial traits is relevant for both formal interventions and everyday life. To use psychotherapy as an example, the past few decades have seen much research, a focus on evidence-based treatments, and the development of new methods. Nonetheless, there is no clear trend of improvement in therapeutic outcomes during this time. In 3 Trait resource acquisition may also involve changes elsewhere in the body as well, such as in the immune (Davidson et al. 2004; Kaliman et al. 2014), cardiovascular (Thayer, Åhs, Fredrikson, ​ Sollers, & Wager 2012), or musculoskeletal (Damasio, Everitt, & Bishop, 1996) systems. We will ​ focus on changes in the nervous system and their mental correlates. LEARNING TO LEARN FROM POSITIVE EXPERIENCES 6 fact, there are some signs of decline in effect sizes and in the efficiency of methods (Carey et al. 2017; Harvey et al. 2014; Johnsen and Friborg 2015). Therapists may be helping their clients to have improved experiences, but there has been no apparent general increase in the transformation of these experiences into durable gains and growth. At this point, developing new therapeutic experiences may have diminishing returns, with greater opportunities in improving their installation. In principle, the acquisition of psychological resources can be fostered in two ways: By increasing experiences of them and related factors, and by increasing the conversion of these experiences to lasting changes of neural structure and function. In practice, a focus on installation could be particularly beneficial for several reasons. First, it might increase the gains from experiences that people are already having, including those that have come from their own ​ ​ efforts or those of helping professionals. Second, it could compensate for the impact of past stresses or traumas on the hippocampus and neurotrophic factors (Duman and Monteggia 2006) that may impair a person’s capacity to